City Hall Blog

Dallas officials bike to City Hall to show support for making city more bike-friendly

Mayor Mike Rawlings (right) was dressed for the occasion at this morning's "Bike to City Hall Day," with John Crawford, president of Downtown Dallas Inc. (Nathan Hunsinger/Staff Photographer)

Staff writer Sean Gorman reports:

City officials traded four wheels for two Wednesday to ride with bike enthusiasts as part of “Bike to City Hall Day.”

The group met in Oak Cliff and rode to City Hall, where the City Council and Dallas bike coordinator Max Kalhammer held a news conference on how the city will improve its biking infrastructure.

“This is the community and this is the leadership that’s going to put bicycle infrastructure in Dallas,” said District 3 council member Scott Griggs, who occasional. “Cities aren’t born with bike infrastructure, it’s people like you and it’s leaders that put it in place.”

Griggs commended the new bike lanes in Oak Cliff and said the council would work toward adding bike infrastructure on the Jefferson Boulevard viaduct.

Earlier this year, Dallas was named among the worst U.S. cities to bike by Bicycling Magazine, but the city is trying to change that notion.

“Finally something’s happening, there’s sort of a sense of relief,” he said. “But still there’s that nagging feeling that they [the city] could stop and abandon this at any time.”

This year Dallas established the city’s first nonshared bike lane in Oak Cliff, and last week the City Council took up a new ordinance governing how drivers pass bicyclists. Mayor Mike Rawlings and council members voiced support for the biker-friendly initiative but ultimately delayed a vote.

On Wednesday, Rawlings discussed his plans to educate drivers on how to approach bike lanes, improve Dallas’ roads and add biking trails near the Trinity River.

“We must create a safe environment, it’s important that everyone knows exactly what do,” the mayor said.

Kalhammer thanked Bike Friendly Oak Cliff for organizing the ride and stressed the importance of building bike lanes to connect the city together.

“We believe that the end results will be better air quality, public health, quality of life and increased economic development,” Kalhammer said.

The council concluded the event by recognizing Downtown Dallas Inc., which gave $42,000 to developing the city’s bike infrastructure.

Editor Picks

Ad:TopLeftBlog

Ad: Position1

Archives Title

Archives

ArchivesAbout This Blog

About this Blog

Our City Hall reporters and other Dallas Morning News writers and editors provide in-depth features, breaking news and offbeat tidbits through lively coverage of Dallas government.
Readers are encouraged to join the conversation.